Letter to the Editor (Dec. 22, 2015)Dear Editor, Imagine Marty, from “Back to the Future,” getting out of the DeLorean and Doc asks, “Where you been Marty?” Marty replies, “Back from the year 2025, in a small city called Russellville, Arkansas”. “So what’s happening there?” Doc asks. “Well, they have pulled up one of the sidewalks from North El Paso and plan to re-install it between The Whattaburger and those old apartments up the road. The section was used very little and in go...

History Minute: H. L. Hunt was a self-made entrepreneur“Money is just a way of keeping score,” oil baron H. L. Hunt was once reported to have said. H. L. Hunt kept score, counted cards, and had a relentless appetite for anything he saw in one of the most unusual rags-to-riches stories in the history of American business. Haroldson Lamar Hunt, Jr., was born in Ramsey, a small farm community in southern Illinois, in 1889. He was the youngest of eight children. His father, Haroldson Hunt, Sr., was a ...

News Thoughts: No dog-eat-dog politics: City backs cat for mayorTired of the dog-eat-dog politics in their Russian city, the residents of Barnaul said they want a cat to be their next mayor. The Siberian city of 650,000 people, which lies 1,800 miles east of Moscow, is to get a new mayor next week when a commission comprising the city council and the regional governor choose from among six candidates. But none of the six appears to spark much affection among Barnaul’s residents. An informal online poll ask...

Murton championed fairness for prison inmatesSometimes, an individual has to pay a high price for principles. For Tom Murton, his principles dictated fairness for the least sympathetic in society, prison inmates. However, Murton’s brief but controversial tenure as an Arkansas prison superintendant brought nationwide attention to problems within the state’s prisons. He was born in California in 1928. In the early 1950s, he briefly served in the military and also worked as a deputy U.S. ma...

Letter to the Editor: Quilts of ValorQuilts of Valor My husband and I, Aubrey J. Pritchard, thank all the River Valley Quilters who had a hand in making and presenting a beautiful patriotic quilt that represented his service in Korea in the 5th regimental combat team. It was a great honor to us, and to his friends and family, to receive such an honor from the second tour, QOVF (Quilts of Valor Foundation) and the poem, from Mary Welch, relating to all our wonderful men who served...

Jones was civil rights leader in ArkansasScipio Africanus Jones was a leader in the civil rights community in Arkansas in the late 1800s and early 1900s. His work as an attorney not only saved innocent men from being executed but won important legal gains for minorities in the state. Jones was born in Dallas County in the southern reaches of the state during the Civil War. However, his birth date is uncertain and generally believed by biographers to be either 1863 or 1864. His mother...

Man named Bud Weisser arrested at Budweiser brewerySt. Louis police said the Budweiser brewery got an unwelcome visit from a man with a memorable name. Bud Weisser, 19, was cited for trespassing and resisting arrest. Police said he was found in a secured area of the brewery Thursday evening. Police said in a news release officers were called after security officers told Weisser to leave and he resisted arrest. Weisser was taken into police custody, then issued summonses for trespassing and res...

St. Johns’ College: The first college in ArkansasFor many years after statehood, Arkansas had few schools and no colleges. More settlers came to believe that developing institutions of learning was the way to promote the future strength and prosperity of the state. As such, civil leaders in the state’s Masonic lodges organized St. Johns’ College, the first college in Arkansas. In the 1840s, leaders of the Masonic orders in Arkansas began planning to build a college to make up for the state’s...

Trucker steals 40,000 pounds of meatWhere's the beef? That's what authorities would like to know after someone stole 40,000 pounds of it from a meat plant in central Pennsylvania. State police said it happened Nov. 21 at Nicholas Meat near Loganton. According to troopers, a trucker loaded $110,000 worth of meat into a trailer during a scheduled pickup and drove off. He was supposed to deliver it by Monday to a company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin — but never showed up. A spokesman fo...

Letter to the Editor: Hector School DistrictTo the Editor, Greg Bell and the others on the Hector Scholarship Fund Committee are to be commended for what they are doing. I donated to the fund and plan to every year, even though I no longer live or work in the district. I encourage others to do the same. It looks like the Plains and Eastern Clean Line project will go through Arkansas somewhere, but I sure didn’t think that it would generate so much tax revenue for the schools. The Hector...

Thompson created enduring landmarksEven in adversity, great minds cannot be suppressed. Charles Thompson, an architect from the early 1900s, was an example of such a man. Thompson rose from a childhood of deep tragedy to becoming one of the most celebrated architectural minds in the state, creating enduring landmarks in communities across Arkansas. Thompson was born in eastern Illinois in 1868, one of six children. In 1883, just after he turned fourteen, both parents died sudde...

Police say car thieves dropped boy at schoolPolice said two car thieves made an unexpected stop after stealing a vehicle Wednesday morning: They dropped an 8-year-old boy off at school after they discovered him in the backseat. Norfolk police spokesman Daniel Hudson said the boy was sitting in his mother’s car in her employer’s parking lot when the men got inside. The keys were in the ignition. Hudson said the boy told police that the men asked him which school he attended and then took...

Letter to the Editor: Presidential accusationsDear Editor, In a recent speech, the President accused us of being afraid of widows and orphans. What a stupid thing for a President to say. That ranks right up there with “We have nothing to fear but fear itself,” “I am not a crook” and “I did not have sex with that woman.” All of those statements were untrue and/or patently misleading. We are not afraid of widows and orphans. However, we are afraid of terrorists. Terrorists have already been...

Letter to the Editor: A special thanksOn behalf of the Quilts of Valor, the American Legion Post 20, the various other Veterans organizations, and the individual Veterans who enjoyed the Veterans Day ceremony at the Center for the Arts, I extend our appreciation for the outstanding morning program. The program was well planned, well organized, and presented. I had no idea the Russellville Band, the Choir and the individual singers performing, would be so talented. I believe they w...

Letter to the Editor: Plains and Eastern Clean LineMy name is Greg Bell, and I’m a business owner in a small Arkansas community in Pope County. The town of Hector isn’t a big one. In fact, by last count, we have around 500 residents that I proudly call neighbors. We serve these folks every day at my place — the Hector Pharmacy. As a business owner, I understand how vital our school district is to this community. I’m writing this letter to encourage my neighbors to seize the opportunity to chan...

History Minute: Maurice Britt respected as an athlete, patriotMaurice Britt, known to friends and fellow Arkansans as “Footsie,” was a widely respected and admired figure in the state for both his skills as an athlete and as a patriot. Because of his courage during World War II, he became one of 25 Arkansans to earn the Medal of Honor, the highest military honor. Britt was born into a farming family near Carlisle in Lonoke County in 1919. The family moved to Lonoke while he was still young, where he atte...

Woman fighting fine for posting pro-cop signA Pennsylvania woman is fighting possible $500 daily fines for posting a handmade crime watch sign in her window warning drug dealers to stay away. Canonsburg Mayor Bob Kipp said Cindy Davis received the notice of having a “non-confirming sign in a residential area” after at least one person complained the sign may be making it harder for neighbors to sell their property. The (Washington) Observer-Reporter reported the sign said, “Thank you CB...

History Minute: ‘Moonlight Murders’ terrified the publicIn 1946, five people were murdered and three more critically injured in a series of bloody attacks that kept Northeast Texas and Southwest Arkansas gripped in panic over the “Moonlight Murders.” The first attack occurred on February 22, 1946, when Jimmy Hollis and Mary Jeanne Larey were forced from their parked car on a secluded road. The two were severely beaten but left alive. One month later, on the night of March 23, Richard Griffin and Po...

Teen clocked at 101 mph was late for classNew Hampshire authorities said an 18-year-old clocked at traveling 101 mph on Interstate 93 south near Concord told police he was late for class. A state trooper observed a pickup truck traveling much faster than the posted 55 mph speed limit Tuesday morning. The truck decelerated to 80 mph as it closed on traffic. The trooper eventually stopped the driver. Nicholas Tobin of Concord was arrested on a charge of reckless operation. He has a Jan....

Crittenden a strong force in Arkansas politicsRobert Crittenden was once a giant in Arkansas politics. As the first territorial secretary, he laid the foundations for the beginnings of Arkansas government and the establishment of Little Rock as the capital. But he would see all of his gains slip away and die at a young age. Crittenden was born in central Kentucky, in 1797. His father was a Revolutionary War veteran and former Virginia legislator. At the age of 17 in 1814, Crittenden joine...